


Are We Friends?

by ellboid



Category: Splatoon, Splatoon 2
Genre: Angst, Developing Relationship, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fan Characters, Heterosexuality, Love Confessions, Major Original Character(s), One-Sided Attraction, Original Character(s), Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-19 14:47:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14239584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellboid/pseuds/ellboid
Summary: A Splatoon story, all starring the creator's own original characters.Axel is in love with his childhood best friend, Arwen, and he soon grows impatient with his feelings the more time he spends with her on the turf battlefield. But there's rift between them as Axel lets Arwen join his friend circle among skilled S+ ranked teammates. Only time will tell if their friendship will last, or possibly evolve into something more...





	1. Same Old, Same Old

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to share my story with others if there's interest! 
> 
> I expect there isn't going to be more than 6 or 7 chapters at the most. But time will tell. Let me know what you think and ask questions if you want!
> 
> -Apollo

Arwen pulled off her sweaty goggles as she looked up at the scoreboard as vibrant obnoxious colored indigo words flashed over it.

  
**BLUE TEAM WINS.**

  
      "Damn!" She cursed louder than she intended to, and her teammates all stared at her idly. She felt a wave of embarrassment flood her cheeks, yet she said nothing and made her way to the team lobby. The team lobby had two different sections for both of the different teams during the turf war. They were given five minutes to prepare themselves before they were allowed onto the heated battle arena to start the short, yet intense game where two differently colored teams fought for the land with their colored ink, and a wide variety of ink guns, paint brushes, and paint rollers. After the game was over, the teams were to quickly make their way back to the lobby to make time for the ink-cleaning machines called Squee-Gs to clean all of the ink off the many surfaces of the arena for the next game to start. The cleaning process was usually about six minutes according to the timer in the lobby, but a majority of the inklings were far too impatient for the next game to start.

      She threw her beloved Inkbrush Nouveau over her back, and began to search for her best friend, Axel, who also happened to be her childhood friend. She stood on her tip-toes and glanced in all directions among the crowded lobby but didn't seem to find his covered face anywhere. As she was about to make her way to the gates to wait for him outside in Inkopolis Square, she felt a sticky cold liquid being smeared on her cheek. She let out a hiss of dissatisfaction, and to her dismay, it was Axel. He rubbed blue ink on her face from his ink tank. Her deep violet eyes narrowed at the sight of his single sunset orange eye, his other eye being covered by a single thick tentacle.  
"Argh-! You're so gross, stupid Axel!" She used the hem of her shirt to wipe it off of her face.  
Axel flashed a wide smile, "You lost again. It's not even surprising anymore." He giggled while he teased her.

She let out a low growl and tore off the ink tank from her back, tossing its cap away that securely held the flashy magenta ink inside, and rubbed the ink all over his tentacle hair. Almost immediately, a booming robotic voice warning was announced all around the lobby,

"Do not remove ink from your ink tank outside of the arena and fight areas."

Axel threw his hands over his mouth, masking his wheezing laughter. Arwen let out a long annoyed groan, and quickly covered her ink tank and threw it over her back again.

"Very funny." There was annoyed sarcasm laced in her voice. "Come on, lighten up Ars." Axel gave her a gentle smile and rubbed her shoulder. "Are we going to stop by the Crust Bucket today? I could really use something smothered in oil." Arwen began making her way to the storing lockers within the lobby to put away her ink tank and weapon with Axel shortly behind her. Axel let out a nervous sigh, "Ahhhh, actually, I'm meeting up with my team in a little while. We're going to be playing against the Lollies again."

Arwen immediately felt disappointment flood her chest. "Your team, the Tower Control Warriors?" Asking as if she never heard of them before. "The one and only."

"You should come spectate our play, you'll get to see us wipe the floor with them again. Or should I say the tower." He snickered at his own joke.

"Or maybe I can play a game with you guys?" Arwen knew that would never happen, but she didn't let her hope be spiked. She shoved her ink tank and inkbrush into her locker and slammed it shut, still staring at the pale blue locked door.

Axel let out a disappointed sigh, "I really wish you can be on the team. But you're in the A rank, and we're S+. You would be destroyed, and you know the rules don't allow different ranks to play together."

"Axel, chill. I was kidding, and I know the rules better than anyone else." She turned to face her friend, "But I'm not going to watch you guys play. Besides, there's better things that need my time. Like a big fat bottle of sea cola and my phone."

"Oh really? Why don't you spend your time playing in your baby rank so you can join our team? I'm sure I can get Vincent to make arrangements for another team member, even though we're full." He flicked the tentacle strand of hair that covered his right eye.

"You're kidding. I hate Tower Control. Maybe if you guys switch to Splat Zones Warriors, or even Rainmaker Warriors, then I'll consider. But until then, thanks but no thanks."

Axel snickered, "My little Ars is so stubborn."

Arwen pushed her way past him, purposely shoulder-checking her friend.  
"Call me Ars one more time and you're dead to me in the next game of turf."

"Whatever you say, Ars." He playfully punched her arm.

 

Arwen let out a relaxed sigh and stretched out her arms above her head as soon as they were out of the building and into the warm refreshing sunlight. "I suppose I can escort you to your geek squad. Where will you guys be meeting up?"

"Right here, actually. The whole squad should be here any minute now." He glanced at the time on his phone before shoving it back into his sweater pocket. Arwen looked over her shoulder before being cut off mid-sentence, "Hey, do you think you have time to come with me to-"

"What's up my sweet inkboy the legendary sch-sch-schniper Axe boy Axel!" A familiar, yet extremely fruity voice shouted from across Inkopolis Square. It was the Tower Control Warriors' team leader, Vincent. Behind him were the other two TC Warriors teammates, who were inkling girl twins, Landi and Candi. Even though they were twins, they looked or were nothing alike. Candi's hair was long, yet freshly cut, and Landi's had the vanilla inkling girl hairstyle from when every girl had their tentacle hair like that when Callie and Marie were still relevant to Inkopolis. Candi was quiet, and could be rude a lot of the time, while Landi was playful and kind-hearted.

Vincent's basic inkling boy tied up hair bounced as he bunny-hopped his way over to the two.

"And I see you have the beautiful Arwen with you again. Today is a lucky day for me." He flicked a wink in her direction. Even though Arwen showed no current interest in romance, she still felt embarrassment crawl up her spine, causing her to immediately lock her eyes onto her feet. It quickly faded as she is use to his constant flirtatious attitude, "Hey Vincent. Landi, Candi." She nodded in their direction.

"Come on, knock it off already, Vincent." Axel scoffed and massaged the temple that wasn't being covered by his hair.

"What? I can't compliment cute ladies when I'm around you?" Vincent smirked as he seen Axel's face scrunch up in annoyance. "So how about it, Arwen? Are you finally ready to let me take you on a super fresh date? One that you'll never forget, of course."

"I think I'll have to pass. I have something serious going on with a bottle of sea cola and my pillow after this. You should take out Landi, she looks like she needs a vacation from carrying your team to the victory every match." She flashed a cocky smile over to the twin.

Landi immediately objected, "Hey, don't drag me into this. I wouldn't date him through a glass wall and an old school telephone once he's sent to jail for constantly bothering girls out of his league." Both of the girls giggled at their attack on Vincent.

Vincent threw a fist over his chest, "Ouch, that stings. But I do like a feisty gal." He put his arm on Axel's shoulder.

"Can we get going already? This heat is making my headache worse from Vincent's presence." Candi's grim voice broke up the laughter and friendly conversation.

"Dang girl, you too?" Vincent's playful mood wasn't even close to being swayed by Candi's burst of negativity. "I suppose she's right though. Tower control is only on rotation for a couple of hours, and after that we have to wait until tomorrow to play again."

The TC Warriors all agreed and prepared to head into the battle building.

"Well, I guess I'll catch you after a couple of hours?" Axel almost sounded concerned for his friend. "Nah, I don't think I want to come back out to play anything. I've had enough of losses for one day." Arwen didn't sound bothered in the slightest. Axel simply nodded and was the first one to head into the building, with Candi and Landi behind him.

"Bye, Arwen!" Landi waved, and quickly bounced her way behind her sister and Axel.

Now it was only Arwen and Vincent.

"You know, Arwen, I'm serious about the whole date thing. I would love to take you out sometime." His voice was quieter now, and more serious. Arwen let out a breathy laugh, "I've got to go, Vincent. Good luck against the Lollies." She waved him a farewell and left in the opposite direction of the battle building.

      Arwen looked over her shoulder out of the corner of her eye, and made sure Vincent went into the building. After he did, she quickly glanced at her surroundings before jogging her way into the battle building. She was going to play tower control in her rank. Arwen was determined to get into the S-rank and to eventually join her friend's team.


	2. Turf Fun in the Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arwen, Axel, and Vincent had plans to play a few games of Turf War, but those plans are soon changed by an upset Landi.
> 
> Now Arwen is alone with Vincent, with her nerves getting the best of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, sorry it took so long to get this second chapter out. April has been crazy busy, but alas, here it is!
> 
> I aimed for lengthy, so I hope you guys like it! Remember if you have any questions, don't be afraid to reach out to me and ask. Thanks for reading!
> 
> -Apollo

      Arwen blankly stared at her standing rank through her phone. She had played nearly six hours of both tower control and splat zones and was almost finished the third rotation of rainmaker. Her feet ached from long hours of being on them, and she felt as if her body was going to betray her and plummet to the ground at any moment now. The competitive games usually start at six in the morning, and like the many competitive try-hards, she was outside the battle building waiting for the doors to open up, and she's been playing ever since. Playing tower control was a continuous flowing stream of losses, and she felt as if she was in a hole that she couldn't get out of. Even though playing the whole rotation of tower control nearly demoted her rank to A-, she was able to make up for the losses in both splat zones and rainmaker. 

      The exhausted girl was trying her best to break her rank, whenever she would hit A+, a wave of losses would just send her back to where she started, at rank A. But because of an ego higher than the Inkopolis Tower, she couldn't muscle up the courage to tell Axel that she's been playing so much. Despite when he would text her every hour without a response, he still kept checking in. Luckily, he hasn't said anything about her promotion, and then demotion. Arwen hopes he didn't notice on the phone app, where the ranks of everyone were posted. 

      Out of curiosity, she decided to check the ranks of the TC Warriors. Of course, she expected them all to be S+ like the usual, but a wave of surprise came over her as she seen that Landi has been demoted to S. Arwen knows that she was upset because it's happened in the past and Landi had a full-on crying meltdown, yet a small snicker escapes her mouth. A wave of guilt hits her, but she disregards it; it's not like anyone in the TC Warriors was around to see anyways. 

      She sighed exhaustedly and leaned against the wall outside the battle building, the loud obnoxious music flooding her pointed ears. Even though it's prohibited to have any weapons equipped outside of the arenas, she rested her Splatterscope on her shoulder. The battle rotation was about to switch to Clam Blitz, Arwen's most hated ranked type, so she never bothered to try rank up in it. So that gives her two hours to rest, or to play the only-for-fun turf war. Thinking about her options for the next couple of hours, a vibration in her pants pocket startled her, nearly causing her to throw down her long dubious gun, and harshly yanked her out of her thoughts. 

      Panicking, she threw her Splatterscope behind her before she pulled her phone up to her face; it was Axel, requesting to face-call. Letting Axel know that she was using a sniper was the last thing she wanted to him to know, since he was legendary with the E-Liter 3K Scope. She groaned, yet tapped the green button on her screen, and a moment later, she was looking at her friend through the screen of her phone. He was at home, still dressed in pajamas. "Yo!" Was the first word he said, "What'cha up to? Want to play turf or something later?" He shoved a piece of dried kelp into his mouth.

"I'm not feeling so hot about turf at the moment- and stop eating in front of me." 

"Wow, cranky as usual. Anyways, what were you doing all morni-" Axel shrieked and the phone immediately panned elsewhere, to a face she was not surprised to see. 

"Hey'yyyyy beautiful!" At this point, all Arwen was able to see was a smiling mouth, along with the background moving rapidly. "Give that back you- you filthy bottom feeder!" Axel was shouting in the background. 

"So, dinner tonight, how'za'bout it? It's all on me don't worry you don't have to pay a single piece of gold baby." Before she could say anything, she watched the smiling face of Vincent's get smacked with a pillow, and the screen went black. There was still giggling coming from Vincent from the phone before she seen Axel's face again. 

"Bottom feeder dropped my phone." He scoffed and shot a cruel glare above the camera. All Arwen managed to get out after watching the ridiculous scene was a snicker. 

"Anyways, did the you guys play at all today? Tower control was on the rotation earlier."

Axel looked above the screen, Arwen knew he was looking at Vincent. Then he said, "Nope, we've been here all morning. I barely left my bed, and I think the first time I got up was to get my phone back. Hah." 

Arwen was a little confused, but as soon as Axel seen the weird face she made, he immediately panned the phone so she could see both him and Vincent. "What's up?"

"Did you check the splatnet? Landi got demoted to the S rank." 

The two boys immediately looked at each other and remained quiet for a moment. 

Vincent then spoke, but he wasn't using his usual flirtatious attitude, "Yeah, uh, I think that was my fault. The games weren't going too well last night, and we ended up having a huge argument."

      Arwen knew it wasn't her place to be nosy, but she couldn't help it, "Argument about what? Losing?" Axel let out a forced sarcastic laugh and scoffed, "No, it was Landi. She was using guns that she rarely touched in the past. She always uses the sloshers, and she's good with them. But because of the guns she was trying to use, it messed with our team composition, and with our team composition screwed with, we went on a big losing streak. Luckily Vinny and I were able to stay in S+."

Vincent then spoke, "I wasn't against the idea of her using the aerospray guns, but it's just that she refused to switch weapons, even when the team really needed it. It's Candi who uses the guns, not Landi."

"Wow. Geez, I don't need a big explanation or anything." Arwen let out a nervous laugh, already feeling like she's invaded too much personal space. "It's okay, I take full blame for the fallout anyways. I swore on my mom's grave that I would never raise my voice at a girl, but I did." Vincent looked sorrowful for a moment, "I'll apologize to her later, and see if we can bring her back into S+."

      When Vincent mentioned his mother, Arwen was pulled into the grim memory of Vincent's past. She only knew of his past through Axel. Vincent and Axel were the best of friends, and Vincent had told Axel everything about himself, like an open book. One day when Arwen hardly knew Vincent shortly after they met each other, Arwen made an insensitive comment to him saying,

                                     " _You wouldn't talk to your mother like that, would you?_ "

      At first, the flirting irritated Arwen to a point where she even refused to hang out with Axel if Vincent was with him. But after she had said that, Vincent laughed nervously and said he wouldn't. Axel immediately knew that it hit his friend hard, and later that day when Vincent was gone, he told Arwen everything about Vincent lost his mother at a young age. When his mother had joined the Inkling Allied Forces to fight against the Octarians for their beloved stolen zapfish, she ended up being rained on by the powerful Octo Shower, also known as the  _C_ _leanser of I_ _nklings_. Because the underground was a no-splat zone for the inklings, she wasn't able to spawn back down there. Like Vincent's mother and many other inklings fighting for a right cause, all of their lives were lost during those mini wars. However, the Inkling Allied Forces were successful in retrieving their zapfish and because of their sacrifices, Inkopolis Square and the entire city are washed in neon electricity. That's what Vincent fights for, and why he harbors so much hate for the octarians. He created the Tower Control Warriors as an elite team, but not to fight ocatarians. He does it for himself, so he can greater his strength to soon enlist in the Inkling Allied Forces. Even though Arwen can't relate to Vincent in the slightest, she still feels awful about saying what she did.

"And I felt bad for not doing anything, I should've defended her against this filthy bottom feeder." Arwen was pulled out of her moment of deep thought as Axel laughed as Vincent pinched his nose, and the boys ended up playfighting for a moment. "Anyways, are you at the Square? That music sounds awful through the phone."

      Arwen seemed to forget her location when she was talking to them, and then felt her gun slide down her back and to the floor. "Oops. I've been playing for a little while today, but I think I'm going to have a breather for a moment. Plus, clam blitz is on the rotation right now." She crinkled her nose at the thought of the horrendous clam blitz. 

"Noice! So that means we can play a couple of games of turf later?" I'll be on your team, and we can wipe the floor with Axel boy here."

"Whatever, I'll snipe both of you before you can leave the launch pad."

      Originally, Arwen was just going to hold back from any matches until clam blitz was over to regain her energy but talking to her friends had excited her about the battle for the land, so she decided a few games of turf wouldn't hurt anyone. "Well get down here, and don't keep me waiting long. You know I won't wait when I have a bed at home waiting for me to return."

Vincent jumped up shouting, "Yes! I haven't played a game with my girl in forever." Axel frowned through the screen, "Ew, don't say that, and I didn't know you consider a week as forever."

      All Arwen did was laugh and say a goodbye before ending the call. She quickly went to her locker inside the battle building to drop off her splatterscope before stopping by at the Crust Bucket for something greasy to wolf down. Afterwards she sat at an empty table near the rear of the Square in the beaming sunlight, waiting for her pokey friends.

      All she did was play the boring games on her phone, but as half an hour goes by, she was just resting her face on the table and at the same time enjoying the sun that was heating her back. She heard the next train approaching the Square, and she sat up watching it slow down at the stop in front of the Square. Tons of colorful inklings pour out of the doors, some chattering loudly and others bouncing with excitement. Beyond the crowd, she was just able to make out the two figures of her friends and waved them over to her. Almost immediately, Vincent's face lit up at the sight of her, and he began waving both of his arms like a madman while Axel just wore his usual neutral expression through his half-covered face. 

"Kept me waiting long enough, I was just about to pack up and hit that same train you guys just came off of." She lied. Arwen didn't mind waiting but liked the apologies she would get afterwards. "Hey, we missed the first train because Axel doesn't know how to haul himself out of his parent's little stuffy house, but we're here now." He pushed Axel, and he stumbled to the side just barely managing to stay on his two feet. "Hey! You were the one worrying about how your hair looked- when it looks the exact same every single day. It's pointless when you're a womanizer who can't even score anything." Axel pushed him back, but he didn't budge an inch. "You, out of all people, are talking to me about scoring? I can go with any girl I please, but I'm not going to do that because of how stunning Arwen is. How about you? You don't even talk to anyone else besides your babysitter here and the team." He motioned to Arwen, and she knew he was talking about her when he mentioned 'babysitter.'

      They both glared at each other for a moment, before bursting into laughter. Vincent pulled up an empty chair beside Arwen and seated himself, while Axel stood on the opposite side of the table. "Sorry for keeping you waiting so long, babe. You can punish me in any way you please." He flashed a cheeky, yet flirtatious smile at her. Axel cringed at the sight. Arwen sighed, and looked to Axel. "I'm so sorry you have to deal with him." Axel pinched the bridge of his nose with narrowed eyes, "Let's just get into the arena so I can punish him for his gross behavior."

"Whatever man, I'll punish you for always keeping her to yourself, and for just being yourself."

Arwen let out a genuine laugh at the bicker between the two, "Whatever you guys say."

      All three of them were making the trek to the battle building, before Vincent ended up jogging ahead of the two and to a familiar face, "Landi, you're here!" Immediately Landi glared and turned the other way, walking in the opposite direction of him. Arwen and Axel looked at each other for a moment, but soon approached the walking girl. "Yo Landi! What's up?" Axel asked, and she stopped in front of them. Arwen motioned for Vincent to stay where he was a few feet away, and he complied with a nod, freezing in his footsteps. 

"I'm not talking to him." Landi said bitterly and heated with her voice cracking at the same time. "I don't know why he was being such an insufferable pri-"   
"Whoa, calm down for a moment." Axel nervously continued, "It was only a few bad games, we can easily make up for them in the next rotation of tower control."

Landi sighed, her frown fading. "I know, but I'm not going to play with him for a while, I just need a break."

Arwen's face lit up in surprise. Landi usually threw a tantrum if she was demoted or even went on a losing streak without being demoted, but she seemed alright with the demotion for the moment. 

"Do you want me to play with you and help?" Axel asked, sounding genuinely concerned for his friend. Landi's face lit up, "You would really do that for me without the team? I mean, I know how much you and Vincent make the best of all duos." Her frown returned at the mention of Vincent. Arwen wasn't able to make out if she was being sarcastic or not, but she kept listening to their conversation. "If it'll make you feel better, and the team feels empty without all of its members."

Landi smiled sweetly at him, "Thank you, Axel. You really are as sweet as they come."

      Vincent approached cautiously at this point, and all of them turned to him, including Landi. "Look Landi, I'm sorry. I just got really frustrated and-" He was cut off mid-sentence by Landi's stern yet forgiving voice, "I forgive you, but I'm not going to play any games with you until after I get back into S+." Vincent let out a relieved sigh with a small smile covering his face soon after, "I can work with that. But honestly, I really am truly, incredibly sorry." He bowed his head for a moment. 

"That second apology sounded kind of forced." Axel choked out a laugh, breaking the awkward atmosphere that managed to build with the almost-complete squad. Vincent scoffed, "Shut it." The boys both laughed for a moment. Landi turned to Axel, "Can we start right now? I was going to play with Candi, but she doesn't feel like making the journey down here today." Axel looked to Arwen and Vincent with disappointed eyes, "We can play later on today, guys. I'll go practice with Landi for now." Landi bounced with joy as Axel said his words, so she locked arms with him and practically dragged him into the battle building. Axel looked at the two over his shoulder before the doors slid shut, and Arwen knew he didn't want to leave his two closest friends behind. 

      Arwen stood there dumbfounded with only Vincent by her side. Since she was usually quiet most of the time and would really only talk when Axel was around, she began to feel awkwardness fill her atmosphere. Her breathing hitched in her throat, and she wasn't able to choke out any words to Vincent. 

      Oblivious, Vincent said, "Well, that goes against today's plans I guess. Do you want to stick with the original schedule of playing turf for a while?" As soon as Arwen heard that Vincent wasn't at all awkward in the slightest, a relieved sigh escaped her throat. "S-sure, a-are we going to be on different teams or the same.... one?" Arwen wondered why she was so painfully anxious at the moment, when she hasn't been like this in the past with Vincent. It hit her when she realized that she hasn't been alone with Vincent ever, so she figured that was probably why she was feeling so closed off, stranded, and pin-dropping nervous. 

"It really doesn't matter to me, we can warm up for a couple of games by playing on the same team, and if you're up for it, we can go against each other afterwards." Vincent really didn't want to play against Arwen, because he knew he was an extremely better player than her on a ranked scale, and because that he knew she had a huge, yet fragile ego. But he quickly decided that he would only go after her teammates, and not go for her at all. "That sounds good." She said with a sigh and a mopey slouch, feeling nothing but pure annoyance at herself. He swayed his body to the side of her and motioned for her to go into the battle building first, but all she could do was what he insisted for her to do for the time being. So, she walked in, making sure to keep her arms glued to her sides so she didn't have any kind of physical interaction with Vincent, even if it was by accident. 

      Vincent insisted on enlisting them both on the waiting list for the next fight of turf war, so for immediately made her way to the lockers to change her gear, and to equip a gun. She looked at her inventory of guns, and there was the default Splattershot, Splatterscope, Inkbrush Nouveau, and an Aerospray RG. Since she was only going to ink the land, she picked the aerospray RG. It was gold, yet simple in terms of playing turf. It had a quick-fire rate, so it was her go-to in turf wars to cover the land as much as possible with ink. She headed to the waiting area, surprised to see Vincent already waiting there with a Luna Blaster in his hand, so her eyes quickly darted to what he was holding. He swiftly noticed and a crooked smile flashed across his face, "I'd thought I'd take a break from the Splatlings, they get super heavy after a while anyways." 

      Arwen frowned, "That was so fast, how did you beat me here? I didn't even change gear or anything." Vincent let out a hearty laugh, "It doesn't take years to get the tickets, op! Here." He handed her a green ticket from the two he had. The battle building gives out colored tickets to indicate which colored team they were on, so in this case they were both on the green team going against the vibrant pink team. Before you go into the arena, you put the ticket in a dispenser so it can secure your spot in the battle, and so that random inklings didn't try enter the 8-squid fight before or when it was going on. Luckily for the two, the squee-gs were just finishing cleaning the arena, so they were about to get onto the launch pad that would super-jump them into the arena. A sharp ring above them filled her ears, and she knew it was time to hop onto the launch pad. She threw her ticket in the dispenser and hopped on one of the four spots on the launch pad, and Vincent quickly followed after her. Arwen and Vincent morphed into their squid forms, getting ready for the huge launch, and so did their other two unknown teammates. The five second timer began counting down, and Arwen closed her eyes, wanting the random arena to be a surprise for her. With her heart stopping for a moment, all four of the squids were launched sky-high and off to the fighting area. When she felt herself hit the familiar ink of the landing launch pad, her eyes flickered open, but all she was able to see was the pale blue sky with soft white clouds drifting by. Within seconds, the timer for the battle to start began counting down. It was ten seconds, but in that short span of time Arwen felt an embarrassing amount of excitement crawl up her spine. As soon as the timer was up, all of the squids on both teams morphed back into their humanoid form, shook off the ink from their clothes, and raced onto the arena. She let out an excited squeal as soon as she recognized her surroundings. The arena that they were in was Saltspray Rig, which was an arena build around an ocean oil rig. Her excitement wasn't swayed when she watched all of her teammates dash towards the mainland of the arena with only minimal splatting of their base, including Vincent. Usually it irritated her when the team wouldn't cover the base first, but right now she didn't mind cleaning up after them. She hummed and pulled her goggles over her eyes, trying to splat their base as quickly as possible so she can fight with her team. Once she was done inking the base up, she hopped off the platform that separated their base from the rest of the arena but was surprised to see that the walkways that connected the two bases wasn't splatted. She checked her surroundings to make sure there wasn't anyone from the opposing team around, but softly chuckled a bit before she heard roaring of excitement coming from both teams coming the mainland, so she went ahead and began inking the walkways with her team's shiny green ink. Her eyes were glued to the ground ahead of her, concentrating on painting the floor. But she wasn't able to hear someone from the opposing team jump down from their base platform and let out an alarmed shriek as she was being shot at with the other team's dangerous pink ink. She instantly aimed her gun towards where the heavy force of ink was coming from, but she felt her heart drop as her gun refused to shoot out any ink. She lifted her arm to protect her face from being covered with ink and attempt to back away as quickly as she could, but she felt sick as her feet remained glued to the floor. So, she was out of ink and was stuck in the enemy's ink. Trying to think fast, she felt her body begin deteriorate, and she knew she was going to be splatted right then and there, so she closed her eyes and waited for the final blow. But she heard a distressed yelp, and the ink shooting her had come to a firm halt. Her eyes shot open, and was surprised, yet extremely relieved to see Vincent by her side. Dumbfounded yet again, she was stunned into silence as she just stood there. 

"Dummy! Always try to keep ink in your tank!" Vincent said with a cheeky smirk. A small smile crept on her face, "How did you get here so fast? Weren't you up by the mainland?" Vincent chuckled, "I was splatted and sent back to the launch pad. But I saw your tag over here and decided to come and check in. Lucky, I did come over or you would've been a dead woman right about now. But good thing because that's the second time I splatted that guy, he's a total noob." Arwen felt her pride hurt a little, but she quickly ignored it and complimented him instead, "Or maybe you're just too good to play a basic game of turf."

Vincent immediately blushed with embarrassment, "N-no, it's not like that! I didn't mean it in that way, I swear!" Arwen laughed at her mini victory, "Let's just get back to the game before that guy comes and splats the both of us. After all, we're just standing here like boring old seaweed." 

"Right!" Vincent didn't look her way as he knew he face was as red as a feathered starfish. She followed his lead as he inked the way ahead and towards the arena mainland.

 -

 

      Many victorious games later, the two were once again at the battle building, panting breathlessly while almost struggling to laugh. "Did'ja see that guy trying to get into his baller before I splatted him?" Vincent was crouched over with his arms wrapped around his thin stomach almost choking through his laughs. Arwen threw her hand on her forehead, struggling to maintain her breathing and laughter at the same time, "Yeah- what a total noob!" A moment went by as they had almost nearly calmed down from their laughing fit, but as they watched the other team stomp out of their team area, they burst into laughter as they seen the same guy Vincent had practically bullied in that match of turf war, but all he did was ignore them completely. 

"Wow, looks like you two are having a good time." They both looked in the direction they heard the voice, smiles still wide and some chuckles still going. Not to Vincent's surprise, they seen Axel and Landi standing there beside each other, and to Arwen's surprise, they were holding hands. "Oh hey, my man!" Vincent jumped up and gave Axel a noogie as he yelled with dissatisfaction. Axel elbowed Vincent directly in the stomach, and he backed away with nothing but an ' _oof_ _'_. 

      Vincent straightened his bundled-up shirt, "So what's the gig? Y'all dating now or what?" Landi cutely giggled at the question and looked to her feet, still holding Axel's hand. "Actually, yeah... We are." Arwen was quick to notice a small shade a pink that quickly covered Axel's only visible cheek. Although she didn't know why, but her mood immediately deteriorated from a good one to a bad one, but she didn't say anything. "How about we all go out to the mall for something to eat? I'm pretty hungry from all of that carrying Arwen and I have been doing in turf." Axel and Landi looked at each other, still pink in the cheeks, and then they both nodded, "Yeah, I'm down for it, how about you, Arwen?" Arwen froze up when she heard Axel talking to her. Her eyes quickly darted from side to side as she tried to find an excuse to not go, "A-actually, my mom is making something at home, so I'm going to go have that." She lied. "I'll see you guys around." Arwen waved goodbye to all three of them before swiftly pacing out of the battle building without looking back. She kept walking towards the rear of Inkopolis Square, keeping her eyes glued to her stepping feet. She didn't know why she suddenly felt like there was a fifty-ton weight on her chest and she was having trouble catching her breath. She felt her face prickle with heat, and she knew she was going to cry at any moment. As she tried not to concentrate on her ugly, inconvenient feelings, she stopped when she heard a familiar voice call out to her. "Arwen! Arrrrwen! Wait! You forgot your bag!" Vincent jogged up to her, but all Arwen did was gently accept it without looking at him. "Hey, is everything alright?" His voice went softer than her pillow at home, but all she managed to choke out was, "I'm fine." And quickly hopped on the train that was about to leave the square. She looked back as it began to move and seen Vincent still standing there. Guilt filled her chest, but she turned away and plopped down on an empty seat. When she made the final stretch home, she ignored her parent's greetings and slammed her bedroom door shut. As soon as she was alone in her safe space, she threw herself down on her familiar bed, hugging and sobbing into her pillow.


End file.
